Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Chicago music fans have no excuse to stay at home this Halloween. Not only does the holiday fall on a weekend this year, but the Windy City is once again offering up plenty of excellent shows to check out. Below is a roundup of promising selections for both Friday and Saturday night to help make sure your Halloween rocks. If you're heading to a show not listed, be sure to leave a comment with the details.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30

Double Door (1572 N. Milwaukee)In keeping with its annual tradition, the Wicker Park club will serve up another batch of Chicago-based acts performing as other bands. On the roster this year areBlack Angus as Black Sabbath, The Midnight Shows as Huey Lewis and the News, Catfish Haven as Nirvana, Viceroy as Cheap Trick, Blackbox as Snoop Dogg and Hobo and the Boxcar as the White Stripes.

Abbey Pub (3420 W. Grace)While the Double Door has only one night of Halloween extravaganza this year, the Abbey Pub will offer two, kicking off Friday night with six bands masquerading as some excellent acts. The lineup: Penthouse Sweets as The Sex Pistols, Pleezer as Weezer, Broken China as the Bangles, Phil Angotti as Squeeze, Chris Dorf and friends as R.E.M. and Benge & Short as Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe.

Metro(3730 N. Clark)This year, Metro will also join in the "bands playing other bands" fun with their 1st annual Halloween tribute show featuring Love Me Electric as Blink 182, Color Radio as Radiohead and Plunket as Limp Bizkit.

Abbey Pub (3420 W. Grace)The second night of the Abbey's Halloween bash will feature the Shaking Hand as AC/DC, Tomorrow the Moon as Psychedelic Furs, Androgynous Mustache as the J. Geils Band, the Delafields as the B-52s, the Webstirs as Fleetwood Mac and Tiny Speakers as the Everly Brothers.

Lincoln Hall (2424 N. Lincoln)If you haven't yet had the chance to check out Chicago's newest rock club, you might want to catch the venue's first Halloween show featuring Detholz!, with Bobby Conn and Loto Ball Show opening.

Quenchers(2401 N. Western Ave.)Three Chicago-based bands are on tap, including Knife of Simpson, mbconn (who, according to Twitter pal @rarestock, will play a set of scary movie themes) and The World In Heat.